Mondelēz International has reaffirmed its commitment to climate change following US President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement.

Europe's politicians, academics and business leaders condemned Trump's decision to withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change last week.

'Critically important'

Trump said he was acting in the interests of American citizens by pulling out of the accord
and the “draconian economic and financial burdens [it] imposes on our country”.

The decision puts the US, the world’s second biggest carbon emitter after China, alongside Syria and Nicaragua, the only other countries to not have signed the treaty.

According to Irene Rosenfeld, CEO, Mondelēz International, ‘we must all work together to take aggressive steps to combat climate change.’

She said securing our planet’s precious resources is fundamental to protect future generations.

“As a global company with sales in more than 165 countries, we believe acting on climate change is critically important,” added Rosenfield.

“Growing our positive impact for people and the planet is not only at the core of who we are as a company, it also helps to accelerate our growth. Smart and sustainable use of natural resources to reduce our environmental impact is necessary now more than ever.”

Sustainability 2020 goals

Rosenfield said Mondelēz International remains committed to its Sustainability 2020 climate change goals and the Paris Climate Agreement.

“Our goals place us at the forefront of the fight against climate change by setting science-based targets to support the global effort to limit climate change to less than 2ºC,” she added.

“We’ve reduced CO2 emissions from our factories by 7% since 2013 and we’re on track to deliver our 2020 goal of 15% reduction in CO2 emissions.

Mondelēz recently published a Cocoa Life
strategy to combat climate change in cocoa producing countries and it is a founding member of the Cocoa and Forest Initiative.

It found in a 2016 environmental survey the biggest driver of its end-to-end carbon footprint is deforestation within its supply chain.

The report stated: “Among the various commodities we buy, cocoa and palm oil have the biggest impact. Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana account for close to 60% of the world’s cocoa supply and, according to the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing

Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD), annual Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana deforestation rates are estimated at 2.7% and 2.9% respectively, and most of the deforestation and forest degradation is the result of cocoa farming and its expansion into new areas.”

Rosenfield added: “Our palm oil action plan is to make sustainable palm oil the mainstream option by requiring suppliers to improve practices across their operations.”

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